Franklin Miller Jr. attended the 100th birthday party that his friends and colleagues at Kenyon
College threw for him on campus on Sept. 8, and he was his usual sharp, engaging self as he chatted
with guests.

College President S. Georgia Nugent remembered the professor emeritus of physics yesterday as a
brilliant man who was “endlessly curious” and led a model life filled with interests.

His pursuits included science, playing the viola, coaching soccer and digging so deeply into
genealogical research that he published three books listing data he unearthed for 21,000
relatives.

Miller died on Thursday at Autumn Health Care in Mount Vernon, surrounded by his family.

The prominent physicist authored textbooks that were best sellers in the field, and he also
founded the Miller String Quartet. The quartet played classical music only for the personal
pleasure of the musicians, including other professors and some students, and was known for never
performing in public.

The first time the quartet played in public was at Miller’s 100th birthday party, Nugent said,
chuckling.

A pacifist Quaker, Miller lived according to his beliefs. He refused an invitation to work on
the Manhattan Project to develop an atomic bomb during World War II. Miller also co-founded the
International Society for Social Responsibility in Science. Albert Einstein was a member of the
organization, which advocated that scientists use their training for the good of humanity.

“He was such an amazing individual,” Nugent said.

Miller, who was born in St. Louis, taught physics and astronomy at Rutgers University in New
Jersey from 1937 until 1948, when he began teaching at Kenyon.

His work reached beyond the campus and into the community, where his philanthropy and civic
leadership helped the United Way of Knox County, the Kenyon Festival Theater, the Knox County
Mental Health Association and the county’s chapter of the NAACP.

He also helped install and position many early television antennas in Gambier.

Miller wrote his own obituary years ago. Kenyon College news director Mark Ellis used it as the
core of the obituary that he wrote and posted on the college website.

“He was quite an extraordinary gentleman,” Ellis said.

Miller arranged to donate his body to Ohio State University’s College of Medicine for research
and training. No funeral service is planned. Miller’s son, Franklin Miller III, said the 100th
birthday party served as a public celebration of his father’s life.